Our Columns

Early in October 2007, Mike Miller resigned from the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club. President of RB Financial, Miller said he was “tired of being nickel and dimed,” with fines for his birthday, wedding anniversary, etc. Rob Weinberg Club members wished him well and assumed he’d never attend...

First things first. I called it wrong last month when I predicted Hillary Clinton would be our next president. Understandable. Like millions of other Americans with trusting hearts, I simply assumed the inevitability of another Clinton presidency based on everything the polls, pundits and media...

Shortly after the Thanksgiving meal and the pecan pie have disappeared, the search begins for a healthy Christmas tree with that intoxicating pine scent. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the best-selling U.S. trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia...

Poway was quite a hotbed of the temperance movement in the last decades of the 19th century. The Independent Order of Good Templars, founded in 1851, was an international organization promoting total abstinence from alcohol. By the mid-1880s, members had built a lodge in Poway with the aim of fighting...

“Where’s the dim sum from Pearl?” asks Poway’s Martin Sheps. Okay, this isn’t a food column. Still, the question’s fair since there are no more dim sum carts at Rancho Bernardo’s Pearl Restaurant. Rob Weinberg Dim sum’s a cool experience. Carts of food are pushed around the dining room so patrons...

It's time to look at the election from my perspective. I didn't vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, so I didn't get too excited or depressed by the surprising results. I really expected Clinton to win because I trusted the media. For example, Reuters assured me there was a 90 percent...

Thanksgiving is much more than a big meal with family and friends. It's a time to reflect on, and be thankful for, all of the good things you have. It's important to be grateful, not just on Thanksgiving, but each and every day. Rather than lamenting what you feel is lacking in your life, begin...

Rob Weinberg In September, 2001, my family and I were buying a house north of Boston. Then 9/11 hit, scrambling everyone’s plans. Our initial reaction was to stop the transaction and hide until things settled down. But with a $15,000 deposit at risk, we saw little choice but to proceed with the...

You’re sitting in a traffic jam on one of California’s busiest freeways – perhaps I-15 in northern San Diego County or I-10 in Los Angeles – listening to classical music to calm jangled nerves or just thinking. Maybe you’re not stopped, but merely crawling along in a slow-and-go. Suddenly you hear...

Experience can be a valuable teacher, but only if one learns the right lessons. Let’s make sure we learn the right lessons from the latest presidential campaign so America can move forward. Far too many people are drawing the wrong conclusions. Dick Lyles One such errant interpretation came from...

In a TV ad a company had mattresses stacked side-by-side in two vertical columns, resembling the World Trade Center towers. A woman announced a sale on all mattresses for a “twin price.” Rob Weinberg Two men standing behind her then crashed into the mattresses, toppling them. The woman feigned...

It was a stepping stone in the development of Poway’s identity as a community when, in 1885, Dr. Louis N. Hilleary — Poway’s first physician and a local philanthropist of some note — donated a plot of land along what is now Tierra Bonita Road for a cemetery. It would be named, not for Hilleary,...

I cried tears of joy on Election Night 2008. Not because my guy won but because every black child now had a role model for his/her dreams. I also cried because my Freedom Rider mother wasn't alive to witness the historical moment for herself. Amy Roost This election year many of my friends have...

Scenarios like what has happened with FBI Director James Comey happen often, particularly in organizations that are highly autocratic, such as the military and law enforcement agencies. Someone with high integrity and loyalty to the organization and its hierarchy — in essence, a great “follower”...

Addiction can take many shapes and forms. Each addict is different yet shares so many similar traits. The one constant component is secrets - not just from the addict but from the family. Will Wooton With as much as 10 percent of Americans reporting that they’ve struggled with addiction at some...

Moving to California in 2002, I immediately heard about the region’s famous “green flash” at sunset. Rob Weinberg Over the past 14 years I’ve seen it exactly never, though I remain ever hopeful.To compensate I drink lots of Green Flash beer. The only green I see through my bloodshot eyes is the...

For many years newspaper editors and columnists have awarded various actions or decisions that are made with either a rose or a raspberry. To receive a rose is positive, but to receive a raspberry, not so much. This newspaper uses a “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” system from time to time. Having...

Allen Hemphill But it is the voters’ reaction to being presented with two ugly, awful, terrible candidates that is America's problem. We have collectively donned tribal red and blue dress to defend our ugly, awful, and terrible candidate because he or she represents our "tribe."America is doomed...

Raise your hand if you have an argumentative child. If there are 100 parents reading this right now, at least 70 of you just raised your hands. Well, I’ve got great news for you! No, you don’t! (You can put your hands down now.) Wendy Faucett There is no such thing as an argumentative child, there...

City Manager Tina White The City of Poway takes water quality seriously. We see it as a non-negotiable responsibility. We also view our water infrastructure as a valuable asset that must be maintained as efficiently as possible, at the lowest possible cost to ratepayers. Routine maintenance of...

It has become as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. During early- to mid-October in every presidential campaign in recent history opponents launch a deluge of vicious personal attacks designed to torpedo their opposition. The aim is to create such aversion that supporters...

Romantically, our eyes are the window to our soul. Horticulturally, a plant’s leaves are the window to their health. Plants signal that they are sick by the way their leaves look. A common health concern is yellow leaves. Clarence Schmidt If your plant has fully drooped, dried yellow leaves, a...

Confession time: I’m not always the biggest fan of the Postal Service. In this column I’ve previously suggested they cut Saturday delivery and establish coffee kiosks in their lobbies. Rob Weinberg They responded by selling Bugs Bunny stamps and greeting cards.Hardly a novel approach to improving...